Multiple sclerosis and neurotransmission

In this study, the role of excitatory amino acids (EAA), nitrite (metabolite of nitric oxide), vitamin B 12 , homocysteine (HC), monoamines, and neuropeptides such as cholecystokinin (CCK) and neuropeptide Y in multiple sclerosis (MS) is defined on the basis of accumulated results obtained in cerebrospinal fluid from 47 MS patients. These results were compared with 25 healthy subjects. These results showed the significant increase of free radical NO, arginine, tryptophan, noradrenaline and HC, and decrease in the levels of Apartate, glutamate, dopamine, vitamin B12, CCK-4 and CCK-8 in MS patients. From these results, the role of NO, HC and deficiency of vitamin B12 are considered as some of the factors attributing to the degeneration of MS.